Plastic board and method of making it



May 7, 1957 K. w. COUSE PLASTIC BOARD AND METHOD OF MAKING IT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 26, 1955 Q WM k y 7, 1957 K. w. COUSE 2,791,264

PLASTIC BOARD AND METHOD OF MAKING IT Filed Sept. 26, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2&5? W/W/ PLASTIC BGARD AND METHQD OF MAKING IT Kibbey W. Couse, Newark, N. 3.

Application September 26, 1955, Serial No. 536,368

10 Claims. (Cl. 1154-41) This invention relates in general to a plastic structural unit, particularly for buildings, and more especially the invention contemplates a plastic board that may be used either in the laying of floors or in the erection of siding for building walls.

One object of the invention is to provide a plastic structural unit which shall be strong and resistant to bending and compressive strains and hard blows, which shall at the same time be strikingly light in weight, which shall be resistant to liquids, and which can be produced rapidly and at low cost.

Another object is to provide a novel and improved method of making a structural unit of this character, rapidly and economically in a continuous operation.

The manufacture of the structural unit embodying the invention, involves the application of a plastic fabric cover and a viscous liquid coating to a plastic core or body, and another object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved method and means for handling said core or body before, during, and after the coating operation to provide continuous movement of the core from a supply station and in succession through coating, drying and severing stations.

Other objects, advantages and results of the invention will be brought out by the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a schematic top plan view of the core mounted on the apparatus for handling the core and showing the core passing through the different treating stations, with portions broken away;

Figure 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Figure 3 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view approximately on the plane of the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a similar view on the plane of the line 44 of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a similar view showing a modification of the invention;

Figure 6 is a longitudinal vertical section view approximately on the plane of the line 66 of Figure 3;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary, bottom plan view of said body showing different portions thereof in different stages of covering and coating;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary sectional perspective view of the plastic body member in its normal or initial condition;

Figure 9 is a view of a portion of the body showing the first step in the method and before application of the cover and coating thereto;

Figure 10 is a similar view showing the first step in applying the cover to the body;

Figure 11 is a similar view showing the second step in the application of the cover;

Figure 12 shows the cover completely applied;

Figure 13 shows the coating applied to the cover;

Figure 14 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the completed structural unit which includes two sections Patented May 7, 1957 each comprising a piece of the covered and coated body shown in Figures 7 and 13; and

Figure 15 is a fragmentary side elevation of the com pleted structural unit with portions broken away on the plane of the line 15-15 of Figure 14.

Specifically describing the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the complete structural unit includes two identical sections A each of which includes a body or strip 1 of plastic material, preferably cellular cellulose acetate at least the surface of which is pervious, having a cover 2 of woven fabric formed of fiber glass or other suitable plastic material which is pervious and coated or impregnated with a plastic composition 3, preferably a polyester resin, applied in liquid form and then dried. The sections A and the complete unit are preferably, but not necessarily, rectangular in cross-section and elongate and have approximately flat bottom surfaces. The two sections are cemented together at their bottom surfaces with a suitable cement 4 which may consist of a mixture of a cobalt accelerator and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide known as MEK. The liquid coating and the cement permeate the body strips 1 so that the completed unit is in effect a monolith.

In making the unit, the body strip is supplied in sections of great length which are longitudinally moved through successive stations in which the cover 2 is secured to the strip, the coating liquid is applied to the cover, the cover and coating are dried and the body strip is cut into pieces of the desired length, respectively.

More particularly, three narrow longitudinal grooves 5, 6 and 7 are cut in one side of the length of body material, as best shown in Figures 2, 7 and 9. The strip of body material is then mounted on a series of supporting and conveying rollers 8 which may be identical and are carried by shafts 9 journaled in suitable bearing brackets 10. If desired, the rollers may be positively driven as by a series of interconnected chain and sprocket drives. When the rollers 8 are driven, preferably they are provided with peripheral teeth 8a to ensure driving contact between the rollers and the strip of body material as shown in Figures 2 and 6, but if desired, the rollers may have smooth surfaces as shown in Figure 5, especially when the body piece is manually shoved along the rollers. One of the grooves, namely the groove 7, is disposed along the longitudinal median plane of the body strip and each roller has a circumferential upstanding flange 11 of a width and height slightly less than the width and height of said groove so that the body strip may be laid oh the rollers with said flanges 11 loosely fitted in said grooves 7 as shown in Figure 2. The rollers are of a length less than the distance between the two side grooves 5 and 6 so that the ends of the rollers are disposed inwardly of said grooves to leave the grooves freely accessible from the side edges of the body strip. At one station designated B in Figure 1, the woven fabric cover 2 is wrapped around the top and side surfaces of the body strip and its edge portions are folded or returned and tucked into the corresponding grooves 5 and 6 as indicated at 11 and best shown in Figures 10, ll, 12, 3 and 7. The body strip with the cover applied continues through the station C where the coating composition is applied to the cover in any suitable way and by any suitable means, for example by spraying. This coating composition is dried and thereby hardened upon movement of the covered and coated body strip into station D which might constitute a drying tunnel or any suitable drying apparatus. The longitudinal movement of the body strip is continued through station E at which the strip is severed transversely as indicated at 12 by any suitable means, such as a saw, into pieces of the desired length.

Two of these pieces are then secured together to form the completed structural unit as illustrated in Figures 14 and 15, each of said pieces constituting one of the sections A. One of the pieces is laid with its grooved bottom side facing upwardly and a layer of the plastic cement 4 is applied to said upwardly facing side. Then the other piece with its bottom side facing downwardly is laid upon the first-mentioned piece with the side edges of the pieces in alignment, and the two pieces are pressed together to force the cement into contact with the juxtaposed surfaces of the two pieces as shown in Figures 14 and 15. After the cement has dried and hardened the structural unit comprising the two sections A constitutes in effect a monolith. The two sections complement each other and the returned edges of the fabric cover in the grooves 5 and 6 as well as the plastic cement in the grooves 7 cooperate to provide exceptional rigidity and resistance of the unit against bending and compressive strains, while the coated fabric cover provides smooth and friction and wear-resistant surfaces. The whole unit is also resistant to liquids.

The units may be assembled together in side-by-side relation with their longer dimensions vertically disposed for providing flooring, while the units may be disposed in edge-to-edge relation with their larger sides in common planes for providing siding in building walls.

The unit is inexpensive, light in weight and can be produced at a low cost. The conveying of the piece of body material on the rollers 8 as shown and described, provides for easy and quick handling of the body piece with a minimum of interference from the coating material and with the grooves 5 and 6 freely accessible for securement of the edges of the fabric cover to the body piece.

While I have shown and described the now preferred construction of the plastic board and the now preferred method of making it, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the structural details of the unit, the steps of the method and the means for conveying, covering, coating and drying the body pieces may be modified and changed within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A plastic structural unit comprising two identical sections each including a plastic body having top, bottom, side and end surfaces, a woven plastic cover stretched over said top and side surfaces and having its edge portions secured to said bottom surface, said sections being in superposed parallel relation to each other with their bottom surfaces juxtaposed and cemented together, the bottom surface of each section having a groove adjacent to but spaced from each side surface, and an edge portion of said woven cover being tightly tucked in each of said grooves.

2. The structural unit as defined in claim 1 wherein the surface of said body is pervious, said woven plastic cover is pervious and impregnated with a hardened coating composition that was applied in liquid form and which permeates said surfaces of the .body.

3. A structural unit as defined in claim 2 wherein said bodies are formed of cellular cellulose acetate, said woven cover is formed of glass fibers, said coating composition is a polyester and said sections are cemented together with a mixture of cobalt accelerator and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide.

4. A plastic structural unit as defined in claim 1 wherein said woven plastic cover is formed of glass fibers and said coating composition is a polyester resin.

5. A plastic structural unit as defined in claim 1 where- (l in said sections are cemented together with a composition including cobalt accelerator and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide.

6. The method of making a plastic intermediate product for use in the manufacture of a structural unit, comprising forming at least two longitudinal grooves in the bottom surface of an elongate plastic body having top, side, bottom and end surfaces with each of two grooves adjacent to but spaced from one side surface, supporting said body with only the portion of said body surface between said two grooves in contact with the support and with said two grooves freely accessible, stretching a cover strip of sheet material over the top and side surfaces and folding and tightly tucking an edge of said cover strip in each of said two grooves, applying a coating of a liquid coating composition to said cover strip, and drying said coating.

7. A plastic structural unit comprising two identical sections each including a plastic body of cellulose acetate having top, side, end and substantially flat bottom surfaces, a woven fiberglass fabric cover stretched over said top and side surfaces and having its edge portions secured to said bottom surfaces, said sections being in superposed parallel relation to each other with their bottom surfaces juxtaposed and cemented together.

8. A plastic structural unit as defined in claim 7' wherein said woven fiberglass fabric cover is pervious, and with the addition of a hardened moisture-resistant coating composition that was applied in liquid form and which permeates said cover and the surfaces of said "body.

side, bottom and end surfaces with each of two grooves adjacent to but spaced from one side surface, supporting said body with only the portion of said body surface between said two grooves in contact with the support and -with said two grooves freely accessible, and stretching a cover strip of sheet material over the top and side surfaces and folding and tightly tucking an edge of said cover strip in each of said two grooves.

structural unit, comprising an elongate porous plastic 10. A plastic intermediate product for use in making a body having top, bottom, side and end surfaces, a woven plastic cover stretched over said top and side surfaces permeates said surfaces, the bottom surface of said body having a longitudinal groove adjacent to but spaced from 'each side surface, and an edge portion of said cover being tigl1tly tucked into each groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,447,541 Sabee et al. Aug. 24, 1948 2,477,407 Grant et al. July 26, 1949 2,484,141 Alex Oct. 11, 1949 2,505,347 Brucksch Apr.25, 1950 2,539,301 Foster Jan. 23, 1951 2,578,600 Rose Dec. 11, 1951 2,663,527 Joslyn Dec. 22, 1953 2,712,846 Del Salvio et a1 July 12, 1955 

